Customer responding system, computer terminal, customer responding method and recording medium

ABSTRACT

When a call from external telephone network can not be forwarded to a telephone terminal used by a requested communicator, a client PC of the communicator who took the call, accepts an inputting of call back data, displaying the call back message, to communicate to the requested communicator by the concerned communicator. The concerned client PC sends the accepted call back data to the client PC used by the designated requested communicator. When the client PC of the sending destination receives the call back data, it notifies the concerned communicator that he/she has received a call back data. Furthermore, the client PC of the sending destination responds to an instruction by a communicator, and lists the received call back data in the inputted order.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a customer responding system, acomputer terminal suitable for the customer responding system, acustomer responding method, and a recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

A customer responding system which uses CTI (Computer TelephonyIntegration) technique integrating PBX (Private Branch eXchange) andcomputer network, has been disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese PatentApplication KOKAI Publication No. 2000-332898.

When there are inquires from the same customer repeatedly, the abovecustomer responding system, in principle, makes the phone of acommunicator who responded to that first inquiry ring. Because thiscommunicator can review the customer responding history information, afast and efficient response can be possible, which leads to theimprovement of customer service.

When a certain communicator can not get the phone because the certaincommunicator is not at his/her seat, the customer responding systemmakes another communicator's phone ring, based on a predeterminedpriority. But, there may be a case where all the communicators who arechosen according to the predetermined priority, can not get the phonefrom the aforementioned customer.

In this case, a communicator who is able to respond, takes the call fromthe customer. After responding, the communicator writes down what thecall was about on a respondence record sheet and puts it into apredetermined box to notify the communicator who was originally assignedto take that call. The concerned communicator checks to see if there isa respondence record sheet in this box, and if there is a sheet, thecommunicator calls back to the customer based on the contents written onthe sheet.

However, the method using the aforementioned respondence record sheethas the following problems.

In case that the concerned communicator does not notice a respondencerecord sheet in the box, the call back to the customer would be late.Also, missing the respondence record sheet in the box, results in a casethat the concerned communicator can not call back the customer.Furthermore, the communicator who took the call instead of the concernedcommunicator may forget to write a respondence record sheet, or to putthe written sheet into the box. In this case also, the same problem asmentioned above occurs.

The respondence record sheets are piled up in the box in the order ofwhich the sheets were written. The bottom sheet in the pile is for acustomer who is supposed to have the call back first, and the top sheetis for a customer who is supposed to have the call back last. As thenumber of respondence record sheets in the box increase, the recordsheets could get mixed up when the communicator searches for a certainsheet and takes it out from the box, thus leading to the communicatormistaking the priority of which customer to call back first.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a customer respondingsystem, a computer terminal, a customer responding method and arecording medium that can convey call back data to the requestedcommunicator rapidly.

To achieve the object, the customer responding system according to afirst aspect of the present invention includes a PBX (Private BrancheXchange) connected to an external telephone network, which selectivelyconnects a calling signal from the external telephone network to oneinternal line in an internal telephone network, plural telephoneterminals connected to the internal telephone network, and pluralcomputer terminals connected to each other through a predeterminednetwork, which is placed, individually corresponding to the telephoneterminal. This customer responding system comprises:

call back message inputting means for accepting the inputting of a callback message with designating the computer terminal corresponding to therequested telephone terminal, when the PBX can not get the requestedtelephone terminal amongst the plural telephone terminals, to receive acalling signal from the external telephone network;

call back data sending means for sending a call back data, displayingthe content of the call back message accepted by the call back messageinputting means, to the designated computer terminal through theaforementioned network;

call back data receiving means for receiving the call back data sent bythe call back data receiving means; and

call back data displaying means for displaying the received call backdata to the designated computer terminal.

In the aforementioned structure, user specifying means for specifying auser who sent out a calling signal from the external telephone network,respondence history storing means for storing the respondence content ofan user's inquiry corresponding to the specified user, and respondencehistory data displaying means for reading out the aforementionedrespondence history data representing the respondence content when acall back data is received according to the aforementioned call backdata receiving means, and controlling the aforementioned designatedcomputer terminal to display the aforementioned respondence historydata, may be further comprised.

To achieve the aforementioned object, a computer terminal according to asecond aspect of the present invention, is used as an informationinput/output device, in the customer responding system that includes aPBX connected to an external telephone network, which selectivelyconnects a calling signal from the external telephone network to oneinternal line in an internal telephone network, plural telephoneterminals connected to the internal telephone network, and pluralinformation input/output devices connected to each other through apredetermined network, which is placed individually corresponding to thetelephone terminal. When the PBX can not get the requested telephoneterminal amongst the plural telephone terminals, to receive a callingsignal from the external telephone network, the PBX controls a differenttelephone terminal to receive the calling signal. The computer terminalcorresponding to the concerned different telephone terminal comprises:

call back message inputting means for accepting the inputting of a callback message, after designating the computer terminal corresponding tothe requested telephone terminal;

call back data sending means for sending a call back data showing thecontent of the call back data, received by the call back messageinputting means, to the designated computer terminal;

call back data receiving means for receiving the call back data sentfrom another computer terminal through the network; and

call back data displaying means for displaying the call back datareceived by the call back data receiving means.

According to this structure, when the requested telephone terminal cannot receive a call from the external telephone network, othercommunicators who responded to the call with a different telephoneterminal, designate the requested communicator and input a call backmessage, and the inputted call back data showing the call back content,is sent to the computer terminal corresponding to the designatedrequested communicator. Meanwhile, the computer terminal correspondingto the requested communicator, displays the received call back data sentfrom other computer terminals. By this, a call back message is rapidlyconveyed to the requested communicator, without complicated andtroublesome movements, such as writing down respondence record sheetsand putting the written sheets into a predetermined place.

The aforementioned computer terminal further comprises a businesssituation notifying means for notifying other computer terminals thebusiness situation of a communicator corresponding to the aforementionedcomputer terminal, and the computer terminal may determine whether ornot a call from the external telephone network is forwarded to thetelephone terminal or not, according to the business situation of thecommunicator notified by other computer terminals.

According to this structure, because other communicators can know thebusiness situation of each communicator, such as when each communicatoris on the phone, or not at his/her seat, this information can be told tothe customer without putting the phone on hold, and the communicator whois supposed to respond to the concerned customer can take measures suchas calling back the customer. Also, because each communicator 19 canwork, watching the situation of other communicator's situation on thescreen real-time, he/she can stay mentally calm knowing the situation ofthe supporting staff, in times of unexpected calls (such as complaints).

A call back data reception notifying means for notifying a communicatorthat he/she has received a call back data according to the call backdata receiving means may be further comprised, and the call back datadisplaying means, after the call back reception notifying means notifiesthat the communicator has received a call back data, may display thecall back data in response to an instruction to display that call backdata.

According to the aforementioned structure, the communicator is notifiedthat he/she has received call back data, and reacting to the concernedcommunicator's instructions, the received call back data is displayed.By this, problems such as being late in returning a call, or not callingback, is avoided.

Plural computer terminals are arranged into predetermined groups, andthe call back data sending means may send the call back data to eachcomputer terminal included in the group of which the designated computerbelongs to.

According to this structure, because another communicator, belonging tothe same group as the requested communicator, can look at the call backdata, a rapid respondence to the customer can be possible by acommunicator belonging to the concerned group.

The aforementioned call back data displaying means, may list thecontents of the received call back data.

According to this structure, because the received call back data islisted, the problem of a communicator forgetting to respond to acustomer is avoided.

Each call back data may be listed in the order that it was inputted bythe call back message inputting means.

According to this structure, the problem of a communicator mistaking thepriority of which customer to call back first, occurring by the order ofthe displayed call back data changing places, can be prevented.

A respondence notifying means for notifying other computer terminals,according to the call back data received by the call back data receivingmeans, that the communicator corresponded to the concerned computerterminal is responding to a customer may be further comprised.

According to this structure, plural communicators duplicating to respondto the same customer is avoided, and an efficient respondence ispossible.

To achieve the aforementioned object, a computer terminal according to athird aspect of the present invention comprises:

call back message inputting means for accepting an inputting of a callback message;

call back data sending means for sending a call back data, displayingthe content of the call back message inputted by the call back messageinputting means, to the requested computer terminal, through apredetermined network;

call back data receiving means for receiving the call back data sentfrom another computer terminal through the aforementioned network; and

call back data displaying means for displaying the call back datareceived by the aforementioned call back data receiving means.

In the aforementioned structure, a call back data reception notifyingmeans for notifying a communicator that he/she has received a call backdata according to the call back data receiving means, and a call backdata display instructing means for displaying the call back data by thecall back data displaying means, based on an accepted instruction todisplay the requested call back data after a notification that a callback data has been received by the call back data reception notifyingmeans may be further comprised.

To achieve the aforementioned object, a customer responding methodaccording to a fourth aspect of the present invention, is a customerresponding method which provides predetermined information to computerterminals, which are placed each corresponding to the telephoneterminal, and connected respectively through a predetermined network,based on a received call from a PBX connected to an external telephonenetwork which selectively connects a calling signal from this externaltelephone network to one internal line in an internal telephone network.The customer responding method comprises:

call back message inputting step which accepts the inputting of a callback message after a computer terminal corresponding to the requestedterminal is designated, when the PBX can not receive the calling signalfrom the external telephone network to the requested telephone terminal;

call back data sending step which sends the call back data, displayingthe content of the call back message accepted in the call back messageinputting step, to the aforementioned designated computer terminalthrough the network;

call back data receiving step which receives the call back data sent bythe data sending step; and

call back data displaying step which controls the designated computerterminal to display the received call back data.

A business situation notifying step which notifies the businesssituation of a communicator, who is corresponded to each computerterminal, to other computer terminals, and a forwarding determinationstep, which determines whether a call from the external telephonenetwork to the telephone terminal should be forwarded or not accordingto the notified business situation of a communicator corresponded toeach computer terminal by the business situation notifying step, may befurther comprised.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These objects and other objects and advantages of the present inventionwill become more apparent upon reading of the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system structure of the whole CTI(Computer Telephony Integration) system, which is an example concerningthe customer responding system according to the embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram roughly explaining the basic processing in the CTIsystem of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a concept diagram showing an example of the communicatormanagement table;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the process of the client PC using thecommunicator management table of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plane view showing the main screen displayed in the clientPC;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the call back process;

FIG. 7 is a plane view showing the respondence record screen displayedin the client PC;

FIG. 8 is a plane view showing the main screen changed from an inactivestate to an active state, displayed in the client PC;

FIG. 9 is a plane view showing the call back destination designatingscreen displayed in the client PC;

FIG. 10 is a plane view showing the call back destination designatingscreen when a call back destination is designated;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the receiving process of the call backdata;

FIG. 12 is a plane view showing the indicator displayed in the clientPC;

FIG. 13 is a plane view showing the call back screen displayed in theclient PC;

FIG. 14 is a plane view showing the respondence record screen, which thepredetermined items are inputted, displayed in the client PC;

FIG. 15 is a plane view showing the decision box displayed in the clientPC; and

FIG. 16 is a plane view showing the call back screen after a processing,displayed in the client PC.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows the system structure of the whole CTI (Computer TelephonyIntegration) system, which is an example of the customer respondingsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1,solid lines connecting each parts stand for the phone line, and dottedlines stand for the signal line.

The CTI system 1 in FIG. 1, is for example, placed in a customercomplaint division of a private enterprise. The CTI system 1 comprises aPBX (Private Branch eXchange) 3 connected to an external telephonenetwork 2, and plural phone terminals 5 connected to the PBX 3 throughan internal telephone network 4, and a client PC (Personal Computer) 6comprised in phone terminal 5 as an one-to-one corresponding informationinput/output device.

The client PC 6 is connected on a LAN (Local Area Network) constructednetwork 7. The network 7 is connected to and a server PC 8 which servesas a network server. The network 7 is connected to the PBX 3 through aCTI server 9. Furthermore, a database 10 is also connected to thenetwork 7.

Though the control units will not be illustrated here, the client PC 6,the server PC 8, the CTI server 9, and the database server 10, which areprepared in a CTI system 1, each have control units comprise a CPU(Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Recording) and a ROM(Read Only Recording) as a work area. Also, the aforementioned computerunits each have, internal storage such as hard disk, and/or externalstorage, such as magnetic disk and optical disk, for the writing of datato various recording medium, and/or for the reading of theaforementioned recording medium, if necessary.

The client PC 6, the server PC 8, the CTI server 9, and the database 10,run various processing based on a predetermined program. These programsare, for example stored in the aforementioned hard disk. The programsmay be stored in the ROM of the control unit of the aforementionedcomputer unit. Or, for example, various programs are stored in aportable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, and the control unit of thecomputer unit reads the content of the recording, and carries out thepredetermined processing. Either way, the programs for executing thevarious processing described later on, is used as being stored in theaforementioned recording medium. As it will be mentioned later on, theserver PC 8 has a communicator management table, and the database server10 has an originator ID index table (not shown) and a correspondencehistory master table (not shown), in each of their recording units.

As shown in FIG. 1, the external telephone network 2, a multiplerecording device 15, and a voice answering device 16 are connected tothe voice answering device 16. When a customer 14 calls the CTI system 1through the external telephone network 2 with the toll-free number,before the calling signal is inputted to the PBX 3, the voice answeringdevice 16 answers to the customer's call including the establishedguidance message. The multiple recording device 15 records a messagefrom the customer, if necessary. A voice server 17 is connected to themultiple device 15. A voice message recorded in the multiple recordingdevice 15, is converted by the voice server 17 into a WAV file (Waveformat file), which can be used in general OS (Operating System), suchas Windows. This makes it possible for the client PC 6 connected to thevoice server 17 to read out a voice data in a WAV file format, thus theclient PC 6 can reproduce a voice message from the WAV file. The voicedata can be used anywhere in the company's interior LAN connected to thevoice server 17.

Next, the operations of the PBX 3 which comprises an ACD (Auto CallDistributor) will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the basic processing of the CTI system 1. Asmentioned before, the voice answering device 16, first answers the callfrom the customer 14. Then, a calling signal coming through the externaltelephone network 2, from the customer 14, is sent to the PBX 3. The PBX3 receives the calling signal, and specifies the customer 14, forexample by the phone number display system, in which the caller's phonenumber is accompanied by the calling signal, and through the CTI server9, and searches for the communicator who responded to the phone callbefore, referring to a respondence history recorded in the respondencehistory master table (this will be described later on). The PBX 3 thensends the aforementioned calling signal to the phone terminal 5, whichcorresponds to a communicator 19 who was specified by the search.

In FIG. 2, communicator 19 who took previous calls is only shown as oneperson, but there are actually a plurality of communicators 19, and thenumber of communicators is predetermined by the number of communicatorswho have taken previous calls in the past. If every previouspredetermined communicator who has responded to the call is notavailable because of talking to another customer etc., the PBX 3operates the ACD 20 to send a calling signal to a telephone terminal ofa communicator 19 who is available.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the CTI server 9 connectedto the PBX 3 as shown in FIG. 1, displays the customer 14's customerrespondence information on the client PC 6, which corresponds to thecommunicator 19, who is taking the call.

The processing shown in FIG. 2 will be described specifically.

First, the PBX 3 sends the caller's phone number included in the callingsignal, through the external telephone network 2 to the CTI server 9.The CTI server 9 receives it, and further sends to the server PC 8. Theserver PC 8 receives the caller's phone number, and stores it inassociating with the name of the communicator 19, who uses the telephoneterminal 5, connected by the PBX 3, into the aforementioned caller IDindex table which is in the database server 10. Furthermore, the serverPC 8 records the content of how the communicator 19 responded to thecall, which the customer repsondence information was inputted by usingclient PC 6, into the aforementioned respondence history master table,in associating with the caller's phone number.

In this way, when there is a call from a customer 14, the server PC 8updates the caller ID index table and the respondence history mastertable, and the database server 10 stores the updated caller ID indextable and the respondence history master table.

When a calling signal from the customer 14 is inputted in the PBX 3, asmentioned before, the server PC 8 receives the caller's phone numberfrom the PBX 3 through the CTI server 9. The server PC 8, based on thisphone number, searches the caller ID index table, and extracts the nameof the communicator 19 who corresponds to the caller's phone number. Theserver PC 8 refers to a communicator management table (this will bedescribed later on), and extracts a communicator 19, and anidentification number of the telephone terminal 5 corresponding to thecommunicator 19 is notified to the PBX 3 through the CTI server 9. ThePBX 3 sends a calling signal to the corresponding telephone terminal 5of the notified identification number, and enables the communicator 19to talk.

Also, the server PC8, based on the received caller's phone number,searches the respondence history master table, and extracts the pastrecord of the customer respondence information, corresponding to thecaller's phone number. The Server PC 8 sends the extracted customerinformation to the client PC 6 of the corresponding communicator 19. Bythis, the communicator 19 can output the past customer respondenceinformation, and respond to customer 14, while looking at the concernedcustomer's information.

Here, a communicator management table comprised in server PC8 will bedescribed. As shown in FIG. 3, in the communicator management table 31,a communicator ID 33, distinguishing each communicator 19, and atelephone terminal identification ID 34, distinguishing the telephoneterminal 5 used by the concerned communicator 19, and a businesssituation information 35, showing the business situation of communicator19, are registered in corresponding to each other. When a communicator19 is on the phone with a different customer, or not at his/her seat,that information is registered in the business situation information 35.Also, each communicator 19 is divided into groups, and in thecommunicator management table 31, as can be seen in FIG. 3, a group ID32, which distinguishes each communicator 19's belonging department orsection, is included. Concretely, the server PC 8 through the CTI server9, determines from the situation of the PBX 3 and the ACD 20, whetherthe communicator 19 is on the phone, or not at his/her seat, and recordsthe result of the determination as the business situation information35.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, in the CTI system 1, a fax server 21 isconnected to the network 7. This FAX server 21, for example, sends acustomer 14's respondence history information recorded in theaforementioned respondence history master table to a facsimile machine23, placed in a sales and service 22 section. Or, for example, between asupervisor 24 and a sales person or service attendant person 25, arespondence content of the customer 14 is transmitted by phone throughan external line network 26. By this, the sales and service 22 sectioncan quickly understand the content of the customer 14's inquiry, and candeal with the content rapidly and accurately.

The customer respondence information, recorded and stored in therespondence history master table of the data base server 10 is convertedto a data 37, a file format which can be used in common computers withoperating systems such as Windows, and OS/2. The converted data 37 isaccessible through a company's interior LAN 18, and able to be used inthe company's interior LAN 18.

Next, the structure and major function of the client PC 6 will bedescribed.

The client PC 6 comprises a communication unit, an inputting unit, acontrol unit, a recording unit, and a display unit. The communicationunit comprises a network interface (I/F) corresponding to the network 7,and communicates with the server PC 8 and other client PC 6. Theinputting unit comprises pointing devices such as a mouse and key board.The control unit, as aforementioned, comprises a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, andetc., and controls each unit. The recording unit comprises theaforementioned internal storage, and/or an external storage. The displayunit is a displaying device comprising units such as CRT (Cathode RayTube), and LCD (Liquid Crystalline Device).

Each client PC 6 does the business situation informing process shown inFIG. 4. The client PC 6's control unit requests the server PC 8 to sendthe registered content of the aforementioned communicator managementtable 31, when it detects one of the following: a communicator 19'spredetermined operation (STEP S1); a change of situation in the mainscreen (refer to FIG. 5) (STEP S2); or a change of situation in thetelephone terminal 5 corresponding to the client PC 6 (STEP S3). Thecontrol unit, according to the aforementioned request, receives datafrom the communicator management table 31 sent from the server PC 8(STEP S4). Then, the control unit, which has received data includingeach communicator's name displays their situation in different colors onthe main screen 41 (refer to FIG. 5) in the display unit, in accordancewith each communicator 19's situation (STEP S5). Here, a businesssituation informing process is embodied.

In STEP S1, for example, when communicator 19 clicks the reference key42 of the main screen 41 shown in FIG. 5 with a mouse, the control unitinterprets that the predetermined operation has been conducted (STEPS1:Y). In STEP S2, for example, when communicator 19 chooses the mainscreen 41 using a mouse, the control unit changes the display of thedisplay unit's main screen 41 from the situation of inactive to active,and interprets that the main screen 41 has changed (STEP S2:Y). In STEPS3, for example, as aforementioned, when the client respondenceinformation has been sent from the server PC 8, the control unitinterprets that the situation of the PBX 5 has changed (STEP S3:Y).

In the main screen 41, which is displayed in STEP S5, each communicator19's name 44 registered in the communicator management table 31, isdisplayed according to groups 43. These groups 43, correspond to thegroup ID 32 of the communicator management table 31 in FIG. 3. Forexample, it can not be seen in FIG. 5, but when communicator 19'sbusiness situation is talking on the phone, the communicator 19's nameis displayed in red, when communicator 19's business situation is not athis/her seat (READY situation), it is displayed in black, and whenhe/she is available, it is displayed in yellow. By this display, thebusiness situation of other communicators 19 is notified to eachcommunicator 19. Each group 43's group name 45, for example, isdisplayed in blue.

The control unit, at predetermined timing, obtains the registeredcontent of the communicator management table 31, from the server PC 8,and updates the display of the registered content to the newest content.In this example, the predetermined timing is one of the following: whenthe control unit detects a communicator 19's predetermined operation(STEP S1); when the control unit detects a change of situation in themain screen 41 (STEP S2); or when the control unit detects a change ofsituation of the PBX3 corresponding to a concerned client PC 6. However,the timing of when the control unit obtains the registered content ofthe communicator management table 31 from the server PC 8 and updatesit, is not limited to the aforementioned timing, and for example, thecontrol unit can update the registered content at a predeterminedperiod.

Because each communicator 19 can confirm the business situation of othercommunicators, such as being on the phone or not at his/her seat, in thedisplay unit of the client PC 6, he/she can understand the situation ofother communicators at a glance, without the need to forward the call tothe concerned communicator. Consequently, each communicator 19 can tellthe customer 14, without hanging on the phone. Also, because eachcommunicator 19 can work with watching other communicator's situation onthe screen real-time, he/she can know the circumstances of thesupporting staff for unexpected calls such as complaints.

In each client PC 6, the main screen 41 shown in FIG. 5, receivesoperation from the telephone terminal 5 corresponded to the concernedclient PC 6. That is, on the main screen 41, a phone number input space51 is prepared, and in this space, the communicator 19, inputs a phonenumber (extension number) with a keyboard and so on, and clicks the“ENTER” button 52. The client PC 6's control unit requests the server PC8 to call the telephone terminal 5 corresponding to the inputted phonenumber. The server PC 8, answering to this request, through the CTIserver 9, makes the PBX 3 send a calling signal to a designatedtelephone terminal 5, which leads to communication with the requestedcommunicator 19. Also, when the communicator 19 clicks the “CALL” button53, the control unit accepts a call to the telephone terminal 5.

Furthermore, when the communicator 19 switches the “READY”/“WORK” buttonon the main screen 41, the control unit responding to this operationsends the business situation information to the server PC 8, andrequests a change in the registered content in the communicatormanagement table 31. The server PC 8, records the business situationinformation sent from the client PC 6's control unit on the communicatormanagement table 31. When the PBX3 receives a calling signal from theexternal telephone network 2, and the telephone terminal 5, used bycommunicator 19 corresponding to caller's phone number accompanying thiscalling signal, can not receive the call, through the CTI server 9 andaccording to the ACD 20 referring to the registered content of thecommunicator management table 31, the telephone terminal 5 of anothercommunicator 19 is called. Here, the communicator 19, when he/she is notat his/her seat, sets the “READY”/“WORK” button 54 to “READY”, and whenhe/she is at his/her seat, sets the “READY”/“WORK” button 54 to “WORK”.Also, when he/she is busy and can not get the phone, the “BUSY” button55 may be clicked to express the busy situation.

Now, processing merits of the CTI system 1, comprising basic functionsmentioned above, in the embodiment of this present invention, will bediscussed. Here, a case where a call from a customer 14 is not sent tothe group of the communicator 19 (corresponding to that customer 14),but sent to the telephone terminal 5 of another communicator, will bethought out. Namely, the processing, in a case where other communicatorstry to forward the phone calls, but all of the communicator 19's in thecorresponding group are on the phone, or not at his/her seat and can notanswer the phone, will be described.

In this case, as aforementioned, in the display unit of the client PC 6,which corresponds to communicators taking that call, the communicator19's name, who is designated to take that call, is displayed in red, toshow that his/her business situation is, taking a different call, or isdisplayed in black, to show that his/her business situation is, not athis/her seat (READY situation). Therefore, other communicators taking acall from a customer 14, can tell the customer 14 without forwarding thephone, that the designated communicator can not get the phone at themoment, but the concerned communicator will be told to call them back assoon as possible.

Next, according to the operation of other communicators besides theconcerned communicator, the client PC 6 carries out a call backprocessing shown in FIG. 6.

When other communicators 19, take a call from a customer 14, and doesthe predetermined operation, (for example, double clicks a predeterminedicon, which is not illustrated in the drawing), the client PC's controlunit detects this operation (STEP S11:Y), and displays a respondencerecord screen 61 in the display unit (STEP S12). As shown in FIG. 7, inthe respondence record screen 61, a name of a customer 14, and a contentof the phone call, is able to be inputted.

After communicator 19 inputs a call back information in the respondencerecord screen 61, for example, he/she chooses the main screen 41 with amouse. The control unit, responding to this operation, interprets thatthe call back information has been inputted (STEP S13:Y), and stores theinputted call back data in RAM. Then, the control unit, as shown in FIG.8, changes the main screen 41's window from inactive to active, anddisplays a call back BOX button 56, included in the main screen 41 in anactive state, in the display unit.

When the communicator 19 clicks the call back BOX 56, for example with amouse, the control unit detects this operation (STEP S14:Y), anddisplays a call back destination designating screen 62, shown in FIG. 9,in the display unit.

On this call back destination designating screen 62, as shown in FIG.10, communicator 19, for example, after inputting the phone number(extension number) of a communicator (individual or group) who needs tocall back a customer, with a keyboard, clicks the “OK” button 63 with amouse. Here, the phone numbers correspond to a telephone terminalidentification ID of the communicator management table, and besidesshown in FIG. 3, in the aforementioned table 31, an address number, inthe network 7 of the client PC 6 corresponding to each communicator,corresponds to a telephone terminal identification ID and is recorded.The client PC 6's control unit, responding to this operation, (STEPS16:Y), refers to the communicator management table 31 of the server PC8, and searches for the client PC's address number corresponding to theinputted telephone number. Furthermore, the client PC 6's control unitextracts the call back data recorded in RAM before, and sends the callback data to the found address number (STEP S17). The designation of acall back communicator, or communicators, can be an individual, or agroup of requested communicators 19. By this, every communicator 19belonging to the group, can look at the call back data, and anyone canrespond to a call, leading to a swift respondence.

Next, a call back data receiving process, executed when client PC 6receives call back data, will be described. FIG. 11, is a flow chartshowing the call back data receiving process. Here, a program to receivecall back data from other client PCs 6, is run beforehand.

Due to running this program for receiving call back data, is started,the client PC 6's control unit displays two kinds of icons 65 and 66(STEP S21) in an indicator area 64 of the display unit, as shown in FIG.12. Here, the icon 65, displayed as “P”, indicates whether there is(are) call back data sent to an individual (personal), and the icon 66,displayed as “G”, indicates whether there is (are) call back data sentto a group. It is not shown in FIG. 12, but, when icon 65 and icon 66are in a waiting state to receive call back data, each of them aredisplayed, for example in green.

In this situation, when the client PC 6's control unit detects that ithas received call back data for an individual, or for a group (Y of STEPS22), it changes the color of either icon 65 or icon 66, correspondingto the received call back data (STEP S23). Here, a call back datareception notifying means is embodied. When a call back data isreceived, icon 65 and 66 are displayed in red, respectively, andcommunicator 19 is notified that he/she has received call back data.

When communicator 19 recognizes that the color of either icon 65 or 66has changed from green to red, and conducts a predetermined operation,(for example, double clicks the icon which has changed from green tored), the control unit of client PC 6 detects this operation (STEP S24:Y), and displays a call back screen 67 shown in FIG. 13, in thedisplay unit (STEP S25).

In this way, the control unit of client PC 6 notifies the communicator19 immediately, that it has received call back data. By this, problemssuch as a communicator being late in calling back to a customer, or notcalling back at all, due to a communicator not noticing that he/she hasreceived call back data, or a delay in instructing the display of a callback data to be shown, can be avoided.

FIG. 13 illustrates a personally directed call back screen, displayedwhen icon 65, indicating “P”, which shows whether there is personal callback data or not, is double clicked. As shown in FIG. 13, call back dataD, which requires call back processing, is listed in the inputted order,and each call back data D has a check box C, in the call back screen 67.Because the received call back data is listed, a problem of communicator19 forgetting to respond to that call, can be avoided. Also, because thedata is listed according to the inputted order, a problem of making amistake in the priority of who to call back first, can be avoided.

Communicator 19, clicks the check box C of the confirmed call back dataD in the call back screen 67. When the control unit of client PC 6determines that the check box C of the confirmed call back data D, incall back screen 67, is clicked (checked) (STEP S 26:Y), the displayunit displays the respondence record screen 61 in an active situation,as shown in FIG. 14 (STEP S 27). At this time, the call back screen 67changes to an inactive situation. Here, when the respondence recordscreen 61 is displayed, icon 65 or icon 66 is displayed in yellow, andeach call back data D of the call back data screen 67, is also displayedin yellow. Also, when another communicator 19 displays the call backscreen 67, each data of the call back data D in the call back screen 67,is displayed in yellow. By this, other communicators 19 are notifiedthat the call back data is being responded to. Here, a respondencenotifying means is embodied. By this, a problem of plural communicators19 duplicating to respond is avoided.

In this way, in a state where the correspondence record screen 61 isdisplayed, communicator 19 calls back the customer 14 listed in therespondence record screen 61.

After that, when the communicator 19, who has finished responding to acall back, conducts a predetermined operation (for example, clicks thecall back screen 67), the control unit of the client PC 6 detects thisoperation (STEP 29:Y), and makes the call back screen 67 active (STEP S30). Then, communicator 19 clicks (checks) the check box C of theresponded call back data D, which is displayed in yellow, in the callback screen 67. When the control unit of the client PC 6, when itinterprets that the check box C of the concerned call back data has beenclicked (checked) (STEP S31:Y), as shown in FIG. 15, it displays adetermination box 68 in the display unit, to input whether a processingof a call back has been successfully conducted or not (STEP S32). TheCommunicator 19 clicks “YES” 68 a, when the processing was conductedsuccessfully, and “NO” 68 b, when the processing was not conductedsuccessfully.

When the control unit of client the PC 6, determines that either “YES”68 a, or “NO” 68 b, of the determination box 68 has been clicked asshown in FIG. 16, it eliminates the responded call back data D displayedin yellow, in the call back screen 67 (STEP S34), and the control unitchanges the color of icon 65 (icon 66) from yellow to green (STEP S34).

As described in above, according to the customer responding system ofthis present invention, when the telephone terminal, used by not therequested communicator 19 but other communicators 19, receives a callfrom a customer 14, and the other communicator 19 can not forward thecall from the customer 14 to the requested communicator 19, these othercommunicators 19 can notify the requested communicator 19 of the callback content. Concretely, communicator 19, who takes a call, inputs thecall back data indicating the content of a call back which should benotified to the requested communicator 19, in the displayed respondencerecord screen 61 of his/her client PC 6. The inputted call back data issent to the client PC 6 used by the specifically requested communicator19. Whereas, when the client PC 6, used by the requested communicator19, receives call back data, the client PC 6, displays the received callback data, responding to the concerned communicator 19's predeterminedoperation. By this, prior complex movements, such as writingcorrespondence record sheets, and putting in the written correspondencesheets in a predetermined place, are not necessary, to rapidly notifythe requested communicator 19 of a call back content.

The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment,and practical application and modification are arbitrarily made. Forexample, according to the aforementioned embodiment, it is describedthat the client PC 6, based on the inputted phone number, searches thecommunicator management table 31 of the server PC 8, and sends the callback data to the client PC 6, used by the requested communicator, to theclient PC 6's address number recorded in this table. However, the methodof sending and receiving data between the client PCs 6, is not limitedto the aforementioned method, and is arbitrary. For example, it could bethat the client PC 6 once sends the inputted phone number and call backdata to server PC 8, and the server PC 8, according to the receivedphone number, searches the aforementioned communicator management table31, and forwards the call back data to the corresponding client PC 6.Or, it could be that in the client PC 6 of the sender, without inputtingthe phone number of the telephone terminal 5 used by the requestedcommunicator 19, the sender designates the client PC 6 of the receiverin the network 7, and sends the call back data directly.

In the aforementioned embodiment, it was described that the CTI system 1comprises a server PC 8, a CTI server 9, and a database server 10.However, the structure of these servers are arbitrary, and are notlimited to the aforementioned structure. For example, a CTI server cancomprise, a server PC 8, which is a network server, and a CTI server 9,which connects a PBX 3, and a network 7.

In the aforementioned embodiment, the CTI system 1 was described as anexample, but the customer correspondence system of the presentinvention, is not limited to this example. For example, a computerterminal as an information inputting device, can be applied in anordinary computer usage environment, connected by a predeterminednetwork. The network used here, is not limited to the LAN described inthe aforementioned embodiment, and for example, can comprise arbitrarynetworks, such as WAN (Wide Area Network), and VPN (Virtual PrivateNetwork).

In the aforementioned embodiment, it was described that the program forthe client PC 6 to carry out various processing, used in ROM, internalstorage or external storage, is recorded in various recording mediums.However, the medium that provides the aforementioned program to theclient PC 6, is not limited to ROM or the aforementioned recordingmediums. For example, the aforementioned program could be sent to acarrier, which computer operation is possible, as a signal, and thiscarrier can be provided to the client PC 6 to carry out variousprocessing.

As described above, according to the present invention, customerresponding system, computer terminal, customer responding means, andrecording medium to notify the content of a call back rapidly to therequested communicator, can be provided.

Various embodiments and changes may be made thereunto without departingfrom the broad spirit and scope of the invention. The above-describedembodiment is intended to illustrate the present invention, not to limitthe scope of the present invention. The scope of the present inventionis shown by the attached claims rather than the embodiment. Variousmodifications made within the meaning of an equivalent of the claims ofthe invention and within the claims are to be regarded to be in thescope of the present invention.

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-198676filed on Jul. 8, 2002, and including specification, claims, drawings andsummary. The disclosure of the above Japanese Patent Application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

1. A customer responding system, including a PBX (Private BrancheXchange) connected to an external telephone network, which selectivelyconnects a calling signal from the external telephone network to oneinternal line in an internal telephone network, plural telephoneterminals connected to the internal telephone network, and pluralcomputer terminals connected to each other through a predeterminednetwork, which is placed, individually corresponding to the telephoneterminal, said system comprising: call back message data inputting meansfor accepting the inputting of a call back message with designating thecomputer terminal corresponding to the requested telephone terminal,when the PBX can not get the requested telephone terminal amongst theplural telephone terminals, to receive a calling signal from theexternal telephone network; call back data sending means for sending acall back data, which is classified in predetermined items to indicatethe content of a received call to be notified, based on the call backmessage accepted by the call back message data inputting means, to saiddesignated computer terminal through said network; call back datareceiving means for receiving the call back data sent by said datasending means through said network; and call back data displaying meansfor displaying the received call back data in said designated computerterminal and, in response to designation of the displayed call back datafrom said computer terminal, identifiably displaying that the designatedcall back data is being responded to.
 2. The customer responding systemaccording to claim 1, wherein: said call back data sending means sendsthe call back data to each designated computer terminal; and the callback data sent by said call back data sending means is displayed at eachdesignated computer terminal by said call back data displaying means. 3.A computer terminal, which is used as an information input/output devicewithin the customer correspondence system, including a PBX connected toan external telephone network, which selectively connects a callingsignal from the external telephone network to one internal line in aninternal telephone network, plural telephone terminals connected to saidinternal telephone network, and plural information input/output devicesconnected to each other through a predetermined network, which isplaced, individually corresponding to said telephone terminal, wherein:when the PBX can not get the requested telephone terminal amongst saidplural telephone terminals, to receive a calling signal from theexternal telephone network, the PBX controls a different telephoneterminal to receive said calling signal; and said computer terminalcorresponding to the concerned different telephone terminal comprises,call back message inputting means for accepting the inputting of a callback message, after designating said computer terminal corresponding tosaid requested telephone terminal, call back data sending means forsending a call back data which is classified in predetermined items toindicate the content of a received call to be notified, based on thecall back data, accepted by said call back message data inputting means,to said designated computer terminal through said network, call backdata receiving means for receiving said call back data sent from anothercomputer terminal through said network, and call back data displayingmeans for displaying said call back data received by said call back datareceiving means and, in response to designation of the displayed callback data from said computer terminal, identifiably displaying that thedesignated call back data is being responded to.
 4. The computerterminal according to claim 3, wherein: a server is connected to the PBXthrough a network; said computer terminal sends a business situationinformation of a communicator corresponding to said computer terminal,to said server; whether or not the requested telephone terminal canreceive said calling signal is determined based on said businesssituation information sent by said computer terminal; and where it isdetermined that the requested telephone terminal cannot receive saidcalling signal, said different telephone terminal is called.
 5. Thecomputer terminal according to claim 3, further comprising a call backdata reception notifying means for notifying a communicator that he/shehas received a call back data according to said call back data receivingmeans, and said call back data displaying means, after said call backreception notifying means notifies that the communicator has received acall back data, displays the call back data in response to aninstruction to display that call back data.
 6. The computer terminalaccording to claim 3, wherein plural computer terminals corresponding toplural communicators responsive to an inquiry of a user are organizedinto a predetermined group, and said call back data sending means sendscall back data to each computer terminal included in the group to whichsaid designated computer terminal belongs.
 7. The computer terminalaccording to claim 3, wherein said call back data displaying meansrespectively lists the contents of the received call back data in anorder corresponding to the order in which it was input by the call backmessage data inputting means.
 8. A computer terminal comprising: callback message data inputting means for accepting the inputting of a callback message; call back data sending means for sending a call back datawhich is classified in predetermined items to indicate the content of areceived call to be notified, based on the call back message inputted bysaid call back message data inputting means, to the requested computerterminal through a predetermined network; call back data receiving meansfor receiving said call back data sent from another computer terminalthrough said network; and call back data displaying means for displayingsaid call back data received by said call back data receiving means and,in response to designation of the displayed call back data from saidcomputer terminal, identifiably displaying that the designated call backdata is being responded to.
 9. A customer responding method whichprovides predetermined information to a mutually connected computerterminal based on a received call by the PBX, which is connected to anexternal telephone network and selectively connects a calling signalfrom the external telephone network to a telephone terminal connected toan internal line in an internal telephone network, placed correspondingto said telephone terminal individually, through a predeterminednetwork, and said customer responding method comprises: call backmessage data inputting step which accepts the inputting of a call backmessage after a computer terminal corresponding to the requestedterminal is designated, when the PBX can not receive the calling signalfrom the external telephone network to the requested telephone terminal;call back data sending step which sends a call back data, which isclassified in predetermined items to indicate the content of a receivedcall to be notified based on the call back message accepted in said callback message data inputting step, to said designated computer terminalthrough said network; call back data receiving step which receives saidcall back data sent by said data sending step through said network; andcall back data displaying step which controls said designated computerterminal to display the received said call back data and, in response todesignation of the displayed call back data from said computer terminal,identifiably displaying that the designated call back data is beingresponded to.
 10. A computer readable recording medium storing a programfor controlling a computer, which is used as an information input/outputdevice in a customer responding system comprising a PBX which isconnected to an external telephone network and selectively connects acalling signal from the external telephone network to a telephoneterminal connected to an internal line in an internal telephone network,and plural input/output devices which are connected with each otherthrough a predetermined network, said program controlling said computerto function as: call back message data inputting means for accepting theinputting of a call back message with designating the computer terminalcorresponding to the requested telephone terminal, when the PBX can notget the requested telephone terminal amongst the plural telephoneterminals, to receive a calling signal from the external telephonenetwork; call back data sending means for sending a call back data whichis classified in predetermined items to indicate the content of areceived call to be notified, based on the call back message accepted bysaid call back message data inputting means, to said designated computerterminal through said network; call back data receiving means forreceiving said call back data sent from other computer terminals throughsaid network; and call back data displaying means for displaying saidcall back data received by said call back data receiving means and, inresponse to designation of the displayed call back data from saidcomputer terminal, identifiably displaying that the designated call backdata is being responded to.
 11. A computer readable recording mediumstoring a program for controlling a computer to function as: call backmessage data inputting means for accepting the inputting of a call backmessage; call back data sending means for sending a call back data whichis classified in predetermined items to indicate the content of areceived call to be notified, based on the call back message inputted bysaid call back message data inputting means, to the requested computerterminal through a predetermined network; call back data receiving meansfor receiving said call back data sent from another computer terminalthrough said network; and call back data displaying means for displayingsaid call back data received by said call back data receiving means and,in response to designation of the displayed call back data from saidcomputer terminal, identifiably displaying that the designated call backdata is being responded to.
 12. A carrier, which computer operation ispossible, carrying a program for controlling a computer to function as:call back message data inputting means for accepting the inputting of acall back message; call back data sending means for sending a call backdata which is classified in predetermined items to indicate the contentof a received call to be notified, based on the call back messageinputted by said call back message data inputting means, to therequested computer terminal through a predetermined network; call backdata receiving means for receiving said call back data sent from anothercomputer terminal through said network; and call back data displayingmeans for displaying said call back data received by said call back datareceiving means and, in response to designation of the displayed callback data from said computer terminal, identifiably displaying that thedesignated call back data is being responded to.
 13. A customerresponding system, including a PBX (Private Branch eXchange) connectedto an external telephone network, which selectively connects a callingsignal from the external telephone network to one internal line in aninternal telephone network, plural telephone terminals connected to theinternal telephone network, and plural computer terminals connected toeach other through a predetermined network, which is placed,individually corresponding to the telephone terminal, said systemcomprising: call back message data inputting means for accepting theinputting of a call back message with designating the computer terminalcorresponding to the requested telephone terminal, when the PBX can notget the requested telephone terminal amongst the plural telephoneterminals, to receive a calling signal from the external telephonenetwork; call back data sending means for sending a call back data,indicating the content of the call back message accepted by the callback message data inputting means, to said designated computer terminalthrough said network; call back data receiving means for receiving thecall back data sent by said data sending means through said network; andcall back data displaying means for displaying a list of the receivedcall back data so as to be able to select the call back data, to displaythe selected call back data in said designated computer terminal and, inresponse to designation of the displayed call back data from saidcomputer terminal, identifiably displaying that the designated call backdata is being responded to.